Well-packer.



P. H. MACK.

WELL PACKER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. s. 1915.

Patented May 30, 1916.

INVENi'OR -UED STATES PATRICK H. MACK, OF BRADFORD; PENNSYLVANIA,ASSIGNOR: TO OIL WELL SUPPLY .COMPANY, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ACORPORATION PENNSYLVANIA.

A wmnracm.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PATRICK H. MACK, a citizen of the United States,residing at Bradford, in the county of McKean and State of Pennsylvania,have invented certaiii new and usefulImprovements in Well- Packers, ofwhich the following is a specification. I

This invention relates to the class, of devices. commonly termedwell-packers, such as are 'used for instance -'in connection withArtesian wells, 'oil wells, or like deep wells,

and particularly adapted for use as plugs for shutting ofl the'waterfrom the lower levels of the well.

The present device relates more particularly'to devices which serve toprevent passage of water, ;etc., from below, being especial-1y adaptedfor use under conditions which necessitate the presence of a' packer ator in juxtaposition to the bottom of the well in order that the waterencountered may be kept from the main portion of the well, the packerhaving the characteristics of a plug in this respect. In meeting-suchconditions, it is essential that not only must the packer retain itsposition, but it must be of a form which willpractically prevent leakageof the water therethrough. It should also be capable of preventingaccess of water or gas between the packing and its action of suchmembers acting to. set or to collapse the parts depending upon thedirection of threading movement. This arrangement practically dispenses'with'the utilization of the weight of the superposed tubing in thesetting operation, such tubing serving merely to carry the packer orplug to its proper position, after which it is set by such threadingaction. Where the plug is automatically positioned by devicesfunctioning somewhaton the lines ot the anchor type,

Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed Hatch 5, 1915. SerialNo. 12,504.

Patented May so, 1916.

' Y the superposed weight may serve' to expand in the lower portion ofthe packer or plug in these different uses.

To these and other ends, thenature of which will be readily, understoodas the invention is hereinafter'disclosed, said inven-.

tion consists in the improved construction and combination of partshereinafter fully descr bed, illustrated in the accompanying drawings,and more particularly pointed out inthe appended claims.

In the accompanying'drawings, in which similar "reference charactersindicate similar parts in each of the views, Figur.e 1 is a sideelevation of apacker' constructed in accordance with my presentinvention, with the arrangement of parts adapted to operate on theanchor principle, the parts being shown in position for movement throughthe well; Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional View, of the same shown inposition within the well, the several wall engaging parts being inengaging position; Figs. 3, 4 and 5 are cross sectional views taken onthe lines 3-3, 44= and 55 respectively of Fig. 1; and Fig. 6 is afragmentary view of the lower portion of the device shown in position ina well,

when modified to operate on the wall principle.

In the drawings, 10 indicates the coupling member whichis carried by thetubing, andwhich is adapted to removably engage pins carried by theupper end of a rod 11, the member 10 being bayonet slotted in suchmanner as. to permit ready disengagement and at the same time enablerotation of the member 10 to impart a rotating motion to the memberll-for a purpose presently described.

12 designates a cap shaped member which is loosely mounted on the rod 11and which has a sleeve-like relation to a tubular member 13 which actsas a supportfor the packer 14, herein indicated as in the form of anelongated compressible sleeve of, suitable material such as rubber, themember 12 having an annular flange12 at'its lower end which serves toprovide an annular recess within which thepacking 14 extends.

nular recess into which the opposite end of the acking'14 extends. Aswill be understood, the members 12 .and 16 serve as packing compressingelements, the flanges of. these members tendin to prevent access ofwater, etcrto the insi e of the-packing'and between it and the tube 13.The member 16 has its lower portion preferably in the form of a hollowtruncated cone, the inclined surface of which is adapted to cooperatewith the flaredinteriors of the slips 17, these latter beingdprefepfibly garliigdtlply on e u e e.

a slip cage18"loeate arrangement being such that upon ap lication ofressure in one direction 0 the length 0 tube 13, the slips will beforced outwardly to engagethe wall of the well,

the opposing inc v med faces of the member 16 and slips 17 providingthisaction. If desired, the slips may be arranged to be automaticallywithdrawn when relative movements of the slips-and member 16 is such asto permit this action.

19 designates a lower cap member for the tube 13, said member and themember 18 beingpreferably complementally formed to provide a gland-likearrangement in connection with an auxiliary packing member 20,.which mayalso be of rubber, the members 18 and 19 and the packing'20 preferablyhaving complemental confi rations such as. to tend to cause the packing20 to be firmly clamped about the tube 13 when the packer is set, thisarrangement also tending to prevent leakage of water or gas along theexterior of the tube to reach the interior of the packing 14;.

. time the slips will be expanded so as to en- 1 As will be readilyunderstood from the above, application of pressure on the cap member 12will tend to cause the packin 14 to be compressed so as to engage thewal of the well and the tube 13, and at the same gage the wall, thussecuring the packer in position. This result is obtained by theparticular connectionswhich cooperate with the rod 11, these connectionsbeing best shown in Fig. 2, in which the lower end of the rod 11 isshown as threaded into a sleeve or socket element 21, the latter bein.provided with an annular shoulder 21 a apted to be engaged by asuitable member carried by the rod 11, such, for instance, as a pin 22,the sleeve bemg provided with openings v located 'a bearing.

similar. move-.

' meal-nie- 21 which will permit of the ready insertion of the pinthrouh the wall of the s eeve.

" the purpose of this being to prevent the rod 11 'from being entirelywithdrawn from the sleeve 21', the pin 22 cooperating with thesh'oulder2l to limit the threading movement ofthe rod in one direction.Said sleeve also carries a rod or stem '23, the

lower end of which is threaded to the cap- 19, said stem having a collar23 which abuts against aninteriorishoulder carried by the cap 19. It.will be understood, of course,

that the stern 23 and sleeve 21 may be formed integral if desired, theparticular construction shown in the drawlng permitting of a simpleformof construction, it being preferred that .the stem and. sleeve besecured together against relative movement in order that the sleeve maybe held firmly when the rod 11 is being threaded by manipulation of thesuperposed tubing from-the top of the well: One way of producing thisresult is to employ a pin which extends through the sleeve and stem.Similarly, the stem may be fixedly secured against rotation relative tocap 19by means of a pin.. I also preferably employ a collar 24 on therod 11 with 'in the cap 12, this collar permitting sufiicient freemovement of rod and cap, but acting to cause the cap to be raised whendesired,' thus taking pressure from'the packingmember 14.

The operation of. the parts so far described will be-readily understood.When the packer is to be introduced into the well, the rod 11 isthreaded so as to tend towithdraw it from the sleeve, thus practicallyincreasing the distance between the caps 12' and 19, the increase beingin the length of .theadjusting element formed by the rod 11, sleeve 21and stem 23, it being understood that the collar .24, during thismovement, contacts with the cap 12 and causes this change in position ofthat cap. As a result, the parts are in what may be considered as acollapsed condition, both slips and packing 14'b'eing collapsed and thusproviding a structure which will freely pass downwardlyin the well.While the superposed tubing isabove the packer, the weight of thistubing, with the rod in the position to expandth'e parts, will not causethe expanding of packing and slips, since'a fixed distance between thetwo caps would prevent such application of pressure on the caps ateither end as would provide the relative movement therebetween which isrequired to produce the expanding action.

As will be obvious, such fixed length of the, adjusting element formedbythe rod, sleeve and stem will retain the parts in position to freelypass through the well until va change in distance is had'between saidObviously, a co lar-or other suitable device may beemployed in place outthe pin,

" ing' the rod 11 into the sleeve-21 the sleeve caps. This change isprovided" thread= remaining stationary, the threading action with theresult that the cap 12 is forced downwardly on the tube 13 to apply the.

desired pressure. As will be readily understood, this expanding actionis dependent movement.

upon the sleeve being held from rotation with the rod 11 in order thatthe threading action may be provided, and since the packer structure, inaddition -.to such threading action, is arranged so as to pass freelywithin the well, I prefer to employ means which will serve to engage thewalls of the well so as to restrict liability of the sleeve turning whenthis threading action is desired. This is provided in the presentembodiment of the invention by the connection ofthe stationary portionof the adjusting element (the sleeve and stem) with the lower cap. 19 insuch manner as to prevent're1a-.

tive rotational movement therebetween, thus enabling the member 19 to beemployed as a carrier for means to restrict this turning In thedrawings, I have shown two forms of devices for this purpose, that shownin Figs. -1 and 2 being in the form of pivoted elements 30 housed withinan extension 19' of the lower cap and being adapted'to be movedpivotally and thus cause the lower portions of the member 30. to beswung outwardly by a. hollow cone-shaped member 31 carried on anextension 23 of the stem The sleeve 32 is of any desired length,'that Ilower ends of the slot.

23. The cone-shaped member 31 is carried by a sleeve 32 having slots 32Within which pins 23 carried by extension 23 extend, these slots servingto limit the length of' movement of the sleeve on said extension.

shown in the drawings being such as .,to project slightly belowthe lowerend of the extension 23 when the The sleeve 32is normally in its lowerposition, as shown in Fig. 1, being retained in such position by itsweight, at which time the inclined surfaces provided by the member 31are ineffective to cause projection of the members 30, the latter thusbeing housed and consequently permitting free downward movement of thepacker within the well. As the structure reaches the bottom of the wellor comes in contact with material which may be contained therein, thesleeve 32 contacts therewith, the result being that further downwardmovement of the packer causes the member 31 to operate members 30 andproject them outwardly into engagement with the walls of the well, thisbeing the position shown in Fig. '2. As

pins 23 are at the I shown in Fig, '5, the members 30 move out- .therebypermlttmg the threading action to take place and setting the packer inposition. This particular arrangement provides an operation along thelines of the anchor type of structures and operates automatically when'the bottom of the well is reached.- Obviously, the length of the sleeve32 will control the distance from the bottom of the well at which thepacker or plug .is to be placed, and to permit this length to beadjustable, the sleeve 32 is .shown as threaded to permit the additionof other lengths for controlling this distance.

In connection with the anchor type of operation, it should be noted thatthe particular formation of and the manner in which the members 30 areprojected, causes these'members to also act as supports tending toprevent downward movement of the packer, thus taking the support of thepacker to a considerable extent off of the sleeve 32,- these membersthus forming an auxiliary to the packing 14 in sustaining the packer inposition. Consequently, a settling of material beneath the sleeve willbe practically inefl'ective to change the position of, the packerafterhaving been set, thus tending to eliminate liability of stripping of thepacking such as may ensue under similar circumstances with the anchoringdevices of which I have knowledge.

Where the packer is to be installed at a point considerably above thebottom of the .well so that an extension of the sleeve 32 would be ofinordinate length, I preferably employ a structure such as shown in Fig.

'6, in whichthe cap 19 'is provided with a ,on the operator to determinethe point at which he desires the packer to be located, whereupon, hesimply provides the threading operation heretofore referred to, thewheels 35 serving to retain the sleeve 21 against rotation while the rod11 is operated from the top of the well. 7

As will-be readily understood, the packer is firmly held againstmovement under pressures by both slips and packing, in addition to whichthe form shown in Fig. 2 will provide against movement in a downwarddirection, the setting of the packer being provided by the threadingoperation referred to, upon completion of which the member 10 isdisengaged and the superposed tubing taken out. I

. Shouldit be desired to remove the packer, it would be necessary onlyto reengage the member 10 and rod 11 and rotate the rod in the directionto increase the distance between the caps 12 and 19, whereupon, theexpand ing pressures will be released, permitting the slips and packingto collapse and thus freeing the packing and permitting its removal,

it being assumed that provision is made to cause the slips to collapsewhen such pressure is relieved. Where the arrangement is as, shown inFig. 6, a release of the pressure will permitthe packer to be. readilywithon a spring 37, this arrangement tending to' form a cushion fol-thistube and preventing undue pounding, etc. during movements of the packerinto and out of position.

; While I have herein shown and described preferred means for carryingout the present invention, it will be readily understood that changesand modifications therein may be required or desired to meet theexigencies of use, and I reserve the right to makeany and all suchchanges as may be found necessary for this purpose in so far as the samemay fall within the spirit and scope of the invention as expressed inthe accompanying claims.

What I claim is I 1. In a packing plug and in combination, opposing endmembers, slips and a packing member between said end members, and meansfor adjustably connecting said end members to increase or decrease thedistance therebetween at will, the relative movements of said endmembers to decrease such distance serving to expand the packing memberand the slips.

2. In a packing plug and in combination, opposing end members, slips anda packing member located between said end members, and threaded elementsconnecting said end members and cooperating to vary the distancetherebetween at will, the varying movements in one direction serving toexpand the packing member and the slips.

3. In a packing plug and in combination, opposing end members, slipsand-a packing member located between said end members, and threadedelements connecting said end members and cooperating to vary thedistance therebetween at will, the varying movements in one directionserving to expand the packing member andthe slips, and means adapted toengage the walls of a well for retaining oneof said threaded elementsagainst rotation.

4. In a packing plug;and in combination,

opposing end members, slips and a packing member located between saidend members,

and threaded elements connecting said end members and cooperating tovary the distance therebetween at will, the varying movements in onedirection serving to expand the packing member and the slips, and meansadapted to engage the walls of a well for retaining one of said threadedelements against rotation, said latter means including a plurality ofpivotal members adapted to be automatically projected outwardly whentheplug has reached a predetermined osition.

5. In a packing opposing end mem ers, a packing member located betweensaid end members, and

threaded elements connecting said end'members and cooperatingintermediate the end members to vary the distance therebetween at will,the varying movements in one direction serving to expand the packingmember.

6. In a packing lug and in combination, opposing end mem ers, slips anda packing member located between said end members,

-member located between said end members,

and means for adjustably connecting said end members to vary thedistance therebetween at will, the varying movements in one ug and incom ination,

direction serving to expand the packing member and slips, said meansserving to prevent expanding of the packing member and slips byapplication of superimposed weight, .said ad usting means comprisingthreadedelements one of which is adapted to be retained againstrotational movement, by contact with the well wall.

8. In a packing plug, and in combination, upper and lower end members, aslip cage adjacent the lower end member and carrying slips, a packingmember adjacent the upper end member, a slip expanding member betweenthe packing member and the slips, and threaded elements adjustablyconnecting said end members to vary the distance therebetween, saidadjusting movements in one direction acting to expand the packing memberand slips.

9. In a packing plug and in combination, upper and lower end members,slips and a packing member positioned between said end members, andthreaded elements connecting said end members, whereby the superimposedweight will be applied to the 'lower end member to prevent setting ofthe between said end members to expand the slips and packing member atwill.

10. In a packing plug and in combination, a tubular member, opposing endmem-' bers positioned thereon, slips and a packing member carried bysaid tubular member, and threaded elements extending through saidtubular member and adapted to vary the distance between the end membersat will, whereby the threading action of said elements in one directionwill expand the slips and packing member.

11. In a packing plug and in combination, opposing end members, slipsand a packing member interposed between said end members, and means foradjustably connecting said end members to vary the distance therebetweenat will, said means comprising a socket member carried by one endmember, and a rod carried by the other end member and threaded to saidsocket member, the threading of said rod in one direction acting toexpand the slips and packing member.

12. in a packing plug and in combina-' tion, opposing end members, slipsand a packing member interposed between said end members, and means foradjustably connecting said end members to vary the distance therebetweenat will, said means comprising a socket member carried by one endmember, and a rod carried by the other end member and threaded to saidsocket member, the threading of said rod in one direction acting toexpand the slips and packing member, said rod and. sleeve hav-- ingcomplemental meansto limit the threading movement of the rod in theopposite direction.

13. In a packing plug and in combination, opposing end members, slipsand a packing member interposed between said end members, and means foradjustably connecting said end members to vary the distance therebetweenat will, said means comprising a socket member carried by one endmember, and a rod carried by the other end member and threaded to saidsocket member, the threading of said rod in one direction acting toexpand the slipsand packing member, said rod and sleeve havingcomplemental means to limit the threading movement ofthe rod in theopposite direction, said rod-also carrying a member adzpt 1 ed to movean end member when the r threaded in the latter direction.

14. In a packing structure and in compacker.

pressure, each packing member having one of its faces adapted to act asa packing face, the packing face of one member being on a side oppositethe side having the similar face of the other member, and means foradjustably connecting said end members to increase or decrease thedistance therebetween, the relative movements of said end members todecrease such distance serving to position the packing faces of bothmembers in packing relation, whereby. one of said members will act as aleakage guard relative to the other member.

15. In a packing structure and in combination, opposing end members, apacking member and a supplemental packing element between said endmembers, and means for adjustably connecting said end members toincrease pr decrease the distance therebetween at will, the relativemovement of said end members to decrease such distance serving to expandthe packing member and compress the packing element.

16. In a well packer, the combination of a packer having a body member,a supple mental compressible packing member, a support for the packingmember, said body member of the packer and the support for the packinmember being relatively movable longi udinally of the packer, and meansadjustable at will for applying pressure to the packing member tocompress the latter against the body member of the 17.111 a well packer,the combination of a packer having a body member, a supplementalcompressible packing member, a su port for the packing member, said he ymember of the packerand the sup ort for the packing member beingrelative y movable longitudinally of the packer, and

means adjustable at will for applying pressure to the packing member tocompress the latter against the body member of the. v

packer, said means being rendered active .by the packer settingmovements of the packer structure.

In testimony whereof, I afiix mysigna ture in presence of two witnesses.

PATRICK H. MACK. Witnesses: S. A. MGFARLAND,

Homer: G. Snrrz.

